Illyasviel von Einzbern's School of Combat and Magic
by Akallas von Aerok
Summary: It appeared out of nowhere and set itself up right next door to Hostess of Fertility. Odd people went in and out of the place. To say that Bell was intrigued was to say a squirrel wanted its acorn. On top of that, they promised to improve anyone with their combat or magic. So ... he tempted fate and entered.
1. Chapter 1

**Don't expect a reply of any kind if you skip this portion.**

 **Contains: AU, OC, OOC, Alternate Timelines, etc.**

 **Have fun reading.**

* * *

Bell Cranel blinked as he stared at the building in front of him.

Only yesterday, there was nothing there but an empty plot, and today, there stood a building with such odd structure that he found himself wondering if he was seeing things.

The large gathering of curious passerbyers told him that he was not dreaming or seeing things.

And everyone was staring at the sign that was being fit into place over the glass doors of the building made entirely out of white marble.

[Illyasviel von Einzbern's School of Combat and Magic]

...

Perhaps they can help him become stronger?

"Sorry, we're not open today," a young girl said from front doors of the building. "But we will be tomorrow, so give us try!"

The young girl had flourishing white hair not too unlike his own, but her eyes were blood red. They were like gems. She had a big smile on her face. She would have looked very friendly if it weren't for the helmeted knight beside her.

It was knight in steel and blue. He stood behind the girl with absolute stillness that Bell thought for a second that he was staring at a statue.

But when the girl made to enter the building, the knight moved, and he knew that was no statue but a very well disciplined warrior.

...

Yes, Bell would give this school a go if it produced warrior like that knight. He certainly needed some tips.

* * *

When Bell opened the door, he was immediately assaulted by his goddess Hestia. She jumped at him like a missile and tackled him the moment he entered the church.

They rolled away from the door and tumbled on the ground, but by the end of it, she was sitting on top of him with a grin on her face.

"How's your day Bell?" she asked

He smiled albeit with a bit of a struggle. "M-My day was fine, thank you, my goddess," he replied. Then he remembered something. "I saw a something odd today."

Hestia raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"A school for combat and magic."

Hestia frowned for a second.

"It appeared in the vacant lot by Hostess of Fertility," he explained. "There was nothing there yesterday, and now it's there today."

"That's strange," she replied as she moved off of him. "What's the name of the school?"

"[Illyasviel von Einzbern's School of Combat and Magic]," Bell dutifully supplied. "Goddess, I wanted to know if I would be allowed to learn from there?"

Hestia looked surprised. "You aren't going to go into the labyrinth?"

Bell shook his head. "I will be going to the labyrinth, but I'm thinking about spending some time there at the school. I feel that I can learn something from them."

"Why do you think so?" she asked him.

"Because there was a knight."

"A knight?"

"Yeah. That knight stood so perfectly still that I thought he was a statue for a second. He had so much discipline."

Hestia nodded. "Then I give you permission to do, Bell, but only if ..."

"Yes?"

"You let me hug you to sleep tonight," she grinned.

"Goddess...!" he whined.

* * *

The next day, he returned from his labyrinth run, earning just enough.

Then a thought hit him.

Would the school demand from him payment? He really hoped not.

He stood before the marble building with its glass doors. With a deep breath, he stepped forward and pushed the doors open.

The glass doors slowly swung open without a sound, he noted. They were also smooth at the hinges, unlike most of the doors he was used to.

When he pushed past the door, he found himself in a room bathed in soft white light. He looked up, and found that lights seeping out from between the tiles that made up the ceiling thrice his height away.

The lobby had few chairs on the side and two sofas. At the opposite side of the room was a wide greeting desk. A purple haired girl sat there.

For a second, she didn't realize that he was-.

"Come on up if you have questions, Mr. Bell Cranel."

Or maybe not.

He slowly did so, and stood before the desk.

She looked up and smiled. "Hello. How can I help you, Mr. Cranel?" she asked.

"H-How did you know who I was?" he asked back, surprised by her question.

She chuckled a bit. "Our building is surrounded by a Bounded Field that shows the names of those who enter the building," she said as she pulled the paper she had in front of her and turned it around to show him.

The paper had a lot of names, a dozen perhaps, with the very last being his.

Illyasviel von Einzbern  
Berserker  
Saber  
Rin Tousaka  
Armand Solaris  
Vincent  
Bell Cranel

"Are there that many students already?"

She shook her head. "Most of the people listed here are faculties," she replied. "Ilya is our Principle. Berserker, Archer, Saber, and Rin are our teachers. Shirou and I am the school's cook and mother hen, so to speak. Gilgamesh..." her face darkened. "...Are you here to join us?"

He nodded. "A-Ah, but I ... don't have money to pay with..."

Sakura smiled. "It's alright. You can always pay with mana."

Bell blinked. "Pay with what?"

* * *

That's how his first lesson with the Einzberns began.

He was pushed into a class with two others. The classroom was not big. Perhaps ten meters by ten meters with the ceiling being 3 meters off from the ground. There were twelve chairs and desks in total with one white board of some kind at the front.

He sat down somewhere in the middle row and waited.

Not too long after he came in, a girl came in.

She looked to be no older than the oldest student here.

"Hello guys," she said with a smile as she walked up to the podium and set her notebook down. "My name is Rin Tousaka. And I'll be your teacher. But first, I would like to have a round of introduction."

The first to stand up was a teenager like himself.

"My name is Armand Solaris! I am a son of a merchant who's looking to become an adventurer. Please take care of me."

"Nice to meet you, Armand," the only other student smiled.

Bell just grinned.

Then the other student stood up. "My name is Vincent. I am a member of the Loki Familia. I came here to learn about magic because I find that I am too dependent on others for heals and support. Please teach me well."

It was now his turn.

He quickly stood up from the chair he had been sitting on. "I- umm. My name is Bell Cranel. I am the only member of Hestia Familia, and I also came here to learn. I'd like to better myself in everything I can. Nice to meet you all."

"Well, then, the introductions are over," Miss Tousaka said with a smile. "The first thing we will do is gauge your understanding of the world around you. That means ... an exam!"

Then she pulled out three small packets of paper.

"Argh," Vincent grumbled as he stared at the thickness of the exam packet.

Teacher Tousaka chuckled darkly. "He has the right reaction."

Bell raised an eyebrow. What's wrong with paper exams?

* * *

Bell had never felt so ignorant and dumb.

Physics? Gravity? Formulas? Prana exchange? Prana?! True magic vs magecraft? High end math? Calculus? Electricity?

'I have a lot to learn,' he thought to himself.

He looked around and saw that he wasn't the only one.

Vincent looked like his soul was leaving his body.

Armand fared a bit better but he too looked as if he had been told that his labyrinth loot was a pile of garbage after slaving over an entire day to get them.

Miss Tousaka went over all of their papers with a red pen, and by the look and sound of her movements, everyone did bad.

"Well, at least all of you are on the same page in terms of knowledge," she replied. "However, this simply won't do at all."

With that, she conjured a fire to burn away the papers she had just finished grading. When the fire burnt out, there was no ash or soot in place of the paper.

"It seems that we have to start from the very beginning."

* * *

When Bell didn't return late into the night, Hestia was worried.

Bell did say something about going to a school, but only after he left for the day that she realized that Bell probably didn't have any extra money to pay for the tuition.

Creakkk...

"I'm back..."

Hestia quickly rushed out of their room and saw Bell.

He looked pale and gaunt. His eyes were far-seeing.

He looked like a starved corpse.

"What happened to you?!" she shrieked as she quickly came and hugged.

"I feel ... so .. dumb."

Blink. Blink.

She pulled back and held him at arm's length.

"Huh?"

Bell looked up with tears streaming down. "I-Is this how you think us humans? Dumb and small?" he asked her. "I feel so small ... and weak..." he sniffed.

"...Seriously, what happened at that new school?"

* * *

"They taught you what?" Loki frowned.

"A lot," Vincent muttered. Had someone dragged either Vincent or Bell to the other, then they would be in agreement that Vincent looked about as tired, starved, and weak as Bell did at that moment. "I ... I ..." Vincent muttered before he buried his face between his knees.

There were many people around him, staring in confusion and a bit of apprehension.

He sat in the main lobby of the Twilight House, the main campus of the Loki Familia. It was night, so there were barely any visitors and familia member in the lobby. But those who were there were around Vincent and Loki as they tried to coax out exactly what happened at this new "school of combat and magic" that appeared right next to the Hostess of Fertility.

"T-they tested us."

Loki and the familia members paled. "They experimented on you?!"

Vincent blinked. "No. It was a written exam."

They deflated. "Well?"

"She burned the papers because we did so bad."

Some of them flinched, Loki included. "Ouch," someone muttered.

"What exactly did they test you on?"

"Physics."

Loki frowned. "What?"

"Physics, mathematics, calculus, logic systems, philosophy, combat, tactics..."

"All of it on paper exam? That makes no sense."

Vincent shook his head. "But that's not the worst of it. When she actually began to teach us, I-I-I was overwhelmed by what I learned. I couldn't t-tear my eyes away from what she showed us. I felt ... so ... small..."

Loki and his familia looked at each other.

* * *

"It was so cool! I didn't know such creatures existed!" Armand said enthusiastically over the dinner table. "And the other two adventurers were clueless as I was!"

"Must be nice to be actually on equal footing with the adventurers," Armand's father said. "But I've yet to hear about why you came home so pale."

Armand chuckled nervously. "Oh that... hehe..." he said as he put the spoon down. "Well..."

* * *

"You paid in what?!" Loki shouted as she shot up.

Vincent blinked. "Mana. They told us that it regenerates every day, so I gladly gave them some of mine. I was actually surprised when I saw my mana become a blue rock."

Loki's mind was racing.

It was an art so lost and so forgotten that only the gods knew anything about it.

The ability to so freely manipulate mana. Even gods had trouble with pure mana ... but humans didn't.

The First Race never had issues with anything related to magic. It was the reason why most of the most powerful magicians were humans.

But humans possessing _magecraft_?

The magic used today were closer to spellcraft than magecraft due to the fact that very few non-personalized spells were developed and knowledge of spells were either passed down by the gods or grimoires. Due to this feature of using grimoires and gods as the method of transferring knowledge, it was no longer classified as magecraft but rather spellcraft with emphasis on individual spells.

Humans using magecraft?

That was ancient history. History mired in struggle where the Second Race broke away from Gaia and began their eternal struggle.

A war that eventually the humans won... and with their victory, they killed Mother Earth, leaving it to the gods to tend to whatever was left of the planet.

But that had been more than half a million years ago.

Humans had survived the Apocalypse, just barely. They were also the reason why the gods had decided to descend down. To keep an eye not only on the labyrinth, which had appeared mysteriously and pumping out monsters, but also on the humans themselves. By situating themselves at the heart of human development, they were also being their watchers.

Loki's eyes shot towards the center of Orario where that school was supposed to be.

Her eyes narrowed.

Those humans ... Oh she knew what probably brought about the rise of this new magecraft.

"Zelretch...!" she hissed.

A name that the gods cursed even half a million years later, for that creature knew no bounds of time nor space.

"You son of a bitch!"

They worked too hard to make this world habitable again. Their work was not going to be undone because of that bastard!

* * *

"So how's this world?" Ilya asked with sparkles in her eyes.

It had been only a day since they settled in this world for good. The first thing they had done was to set up a school of combat and magic as both Rin and Ilya wanted. Once they arrived her, they had done so, and separated the second and third floor from the first floor; the second and third floor were their storage and living spaces while the first floor was where the classes were held. If they needed more room, they could just dig down.

Shirou smiled. "It's wonderful. It might be a bit medieval, but magic is known to everyone in this world. We won't have to hide."

"Wouldn't our magecraft deteriorate then?" Sakura asked.

Rin put up her finger to debate the fact. "Not exactly. I think I have a theory about that."

Everyone deadpanned at her.

Then the other half of the family came in.

"Shirou-tan!"

A gold blur slammed into Shirou and carried him away from the low table and across the room. They rolled and rolled until their momentum came to a halt.

Shirou groaned as he saw his Servant. "Why do you keep on doing this?"

"A queen can do as she wishes!" she shouted as she pressed her skantily dressed breasts into his chest.

"Gilgamesh," Sakura said coldly. "Could you kindly let go of Shirou-senpai?"

The golden servant pouted before rolling off of Shirou.

"Sorry," Archer said as he came in. "I was too slow to stop her."

Rin glared at her Servant. "You mean you didn't care enough to stop her."

Archer raised an eyebrow. "Is there a difference?"

Then the third Servant entered.

Or rather, tried to.

He had to bend his back a bit.

"Berserker!" Ilya said happily as she ran up to the giant and hugged his leg.

He returned the hug with a pat on her head.

Then the last Servant entered. "What's for dinner, lad?!" a red-haired, very muscular man with a equally red cape demanded with a grin on his face as he entered the living room on the second floor of the school.

And thus, everyone was here.

All of the survivors of the Sixth Holy Grail War.

Happily away from the Magus Association. Happily away from Gaia that persecuted them. Happily away from all pursuers.

* * *

 **Yeah, it can be confusing, but appreciate it as it is. Or not.**


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Loki personally visited the "Illyasviel von Einzbern's School of Combat and Magic herself." Of course, she did this under a disguise with a simple illusion.

And immediately, she ran into a barrier at the front door.

"You will have to undo your illusion."

Loki turned around.

In front of her was a man. He had white hair and brown skin. But this was not the coppery brown nor the deep brown but ash brown, the kind of brown only found with hair color.

Despite being an immortal god, Loki could fit into her hands the number of times she saw this color for skin.

The color of a dead man.

Was this man an undead?!

"The school has a strict policy on using mind, vision, and other sensory affecting spells outside of classroom setting. You would have to remove your illusion to enter," he said as he entered the school with ... brown grocery bags(?) in his hand. "We do provide lunch today and visitors are always welcome to join us. However, I must say that your illusion is well crafted."

Loki hesitated a bit before she dismissed her illusion. She was in her usual outfit.

He blinked. "God...dess Loki."

Loki blinked. "How did you know who I was?"

The man grinned. He opened his mouth dramatically and then said, "Magic." With that throw away word, he stalked into the building.

Loki just glared at the bastard's back.

With frustrated release of breath, she walked forward and found no invisible wall blocking her. 'And I didn't even sense it beforehand,' she thought. It was scary how she, a goddess of _deception_ , couldn't detect a simple barrier.

It sent shivers up her spine.

Even if her purpose here today was to determine the goal of these ... magicians, she was still a goddess who had been bored for oh so long. An unknown was a thrill she could not dismiss nor ignore.

"Welcome to Illyasviel von Einzbern's School of Combat and Magic, Goddess Loki."

* * *

When Sakura saw the name of a deity pop up -and the paper clearly marked her as a deity- she was surprised. Who wouldn't be?

'Perhaps gods are much more active here than our reality. And wasn't Loki supposed to be a man?' she thought about it for a while before dismissing it as "another alternate reality difference."

"Welcome to Illyasviel von Einzbern's School of Combat and Magic, Godess Loki Odinson," she greeted the deity as politely as possible. "How many I help you?"

Loki looked surprised. "I never told anyone my family name. No god does."

Sakura smiled. "We have a Bounded Field in place that categorizes everyone who enters the building."

Loki's eyes widened. "That is advanced magic."

Sakura tilted her head to the side. "We had time. So would you like to join us for the lunch break? Shirou is cooking today, and I just know he'll make something divine, especially considering that all of the family is here today for lunch."

Loki smirked. "I doubt a mere human can satisfy my palette."

* * *

"I take everything back!" Loki shouted as she slammed down a bowl. The spoon cluttered within it and she had a ring of baige soup around her mouth. "Your cook must be a god! No, he has to be a god!" she reaffirmed to herself as she grabbed a pierced a large steak and hauled it over to her plate in a surprising show of strength. "You have to join my familia, then I'll be able to eat food like this everyday-!"

"Hell no!" Gilgamesh shouted as she slammed her hands on the table. "You are not taking my husband away from me, bitch!"

Loki froze before glaring. "I'm a god. I generally get what I want."

Gilgamesh smirked. "Well, that's just too bad for you then," she said as she opened her Gate of Babylon. A golden fork shot out of it and struck the very steak Loki was about to devour. Startled by the golden cutlery, Loki fell backward.

"What was th- you bitch!"

The steak that had been on her plate just a second ago had disappeared. Conveniently, a steak had appeared in Gilgamesh's plate.

"No one steals my husband or his kitchen skills from me," Gilgamesh laughed behind her hand. "A lowly and ... flat goddess like you have no chance."

Loki's eyebrows twitched before her eyes drifted down to Gilgamesh's bust.

'Damn. I have to admit that those mounds are just perfect,' Loki grudgingly admitted mentally. There was no way she was going to openly admit that. It was comparable to Hestia's own pair of feminism, but unlike Hestia, this girl before her had the perfect figure and size for those bloody mounds. On top of that, they were perkier than anything she had ever seen...

"So you are jealous," Gilgamesh grinned.

Loki glared. "At least I don't have back pain."

Gilgamesh's grin faltered. Indeed, large breast meant heavier weight, and heavier weight meant more stress on any woman's back.

But she was not the Queen of Ur for nothing. Ur was the center of culture, art, trade, and military! How could she rule a city built on military power if she herself was not a fighter?! Her body was not genetics. No, her body was countless number of hours spent in training. Forging.

"Unlike you, my body can take a few kilograms," Gilgamesh proudly stated.

"You mean you have to drag them like a cow."

Gilgamesh glared at Loki. She huffed and turned away, only glancing at Loki from the corner of her eyes. "Besides, Shirou like big breasts."

Loki frowned.

"Besides," Gilgamesh said as she dropped her glare and looked Loki straight in the eye. "None of us here are going to simply hand someone over to fickle being like you, deity."

Loki stiffened before scoffing.

"Fine then, let me go straight to the point," Loki said as she ripped a chunk of meat from a drumstick big as her arm. "Who are you all? What does Zelretch want?"

Everyone aside from her blinked. "Wait, how do you know about Zelretch?" a girl with black hair asked her.

The goddess crossed her arms after setting the drumstick down. "All gods and goddess know of that bloody bastard Zelretch. We could never forget him, even after five hundred thousand years," she replied.

"...We're ran away."

Loki turned to the white haired girl. She had been quiet throughout the dinner so far, and this was the first time she spoke up. "From what?"

"From everything. We were involved in a war over a wish-granting device that was supposed to have only one victor. We of us here won together in the end ... somehow... but our impossible victory brought about the attention of the magi organizations," she continued gravely. "They wanted to experiment on us and reproduce the results."

Loki flinched. She knew how ... barbaric and immoral magi in the past could have been.

The white haired girl smiled. "But they forgot one thing..." Here, her smile became a feral grin, but it wasn't directed at her. "They forgot who we were. We were the victor of a war that had a 100% casualty before us. On top of that, we weren't alone," she said. She pointed to the man sitting to the left of Loki.

"He is Iskander the Great. The King of Conquerors. I'm sure your Greek pantheon friends know of him?"

Loki froze and stared at the man.

"The girl across from you is Gilgamesh, the Queen of Heroes."

And that confused Loki. She was unaware of Gilgamesh's status. "Queen of Heroes?" she repeated.

"She is the first hero," Shirou spoke from left of Gilgamesh. "The first hero born of humanity during the Age of Gods."

Loki's spine shivered and froze.

It had been a long time since she heard that.

Age of Gods.

She was born in that era after all. She used to be uncontrolled and powerful then. 'God, I miss it,' she absentmindedly thought before realizing just what she just thought.

"This is EMIYA."

Loki became really confused at that. "But Emiya is over there," she said as she pointed to Shirou.

There had been a round of introductions before they ate. Hercules had been referred to as Berserker, EMIYA as Archer, and Gilgamesh as Rider.

"This man is the alternate version of future him."

Ilya decided to take over and placed her hand on the giant next to herself. Loki had been curious about the giant. He had the size of a minotaur, but he was definitely human (if you can go past his ash skin).

"This is Hercules, son of Zeus."

... Wut?

'Okay, okay, okay, why the fuck is he still alive and sitting here?!' Loki's mind mentally broke under the implications. 'Gods can't have children, it's one of our self-imposed limitation in this new era. A demigod can't exist!' She knew Zeus. He was, after all, her good buddy. She couldn't imagine him breaking that rule though.

"...Why are you telling me all this?" she asked them.

It was here that Rin spoke. "We are in an unknown territory without allies nor knowledge. So we did a few reconnaissance yesterday, and have determined that you were trustworthy, or at least not malevolent. We prepared scenarios like what you are in for each category of gods who may have come to our school. We simply seek to be left in peace, and being open and honest with you helps us a long way to do that."

"I see," Loki muttered.

It made sense. However, what they didn't know was Loki -and other gods'- absolute disdain for magi. At the same time, though, Loki realized that these people were not "magus," just refugee. They spoke of not wanting to be experimented upon.

"I will agree to your residence in this world under one condition: no magus research."

Rin gawked while the others looked arbitrary about it.

"Deal," Shirou agreed. Rin tried to argue, but Archer just patted her head. She wilted, knowing that everyone except her had issues with magi culture.

Loki looked at Shirou for a moment before grinning. "You sure I can't get you to join my familia?"

He shook his head. "This is my family."

The goddess nodded.

"How about an exchange of information and perhaps service?"

Loki raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."

* * *

Loki left the school with a huge grin and satisfied stomach.

"A cook who can make gods drool," she muttered. "I will have to join them in their lunch again."

But the food aside (not that it was not a big deal), Loki was happy.

She now had assurances that this bunch of magi were not into the immoral research of the past nor looking to cause trouble. At the same time, their mere presence offered her...

Entertainment.

Loki cackled. "Oh, oh, oh, I love this," she muttered as she thought about all of the plays she could make.

She did, however, ask something of them.

So when she entered the Twilight House, her familia's HQ, the first thing she did was to set up a familia gathering in the meeting hall.

Those who were in the Twilight House or scattered throughout Orario quickly came to Twilight Houses's spacious meeting hall.

When they arrived, Loki cleared her throat to get their attention. "Hiya guys!" she grinned. "It's been a while since we all gathered like this, right?" There were cheers and agreements. "And that has me curious ... just how far along are you guys?"

That got some questionable and confused looks.

"We are the best familia there is, yes?!"

Cheers.

"But how do we compare with outsiders? People from outside our city and its labyrinth?"

"Does it matter?" one of the adventurers asked. "We're the strongest!"

"The strongest familia, yes!" Loki agreed. "But I know of someone who is stronger than us individually. Someone that even I cannot touch."

Shocked and angry looks. Who dares to be better than them?

"There exists someone stronger than our own LvL 6 adventurers!" Loki shouted. "Then isn't it our duty as the strongest familia to also have the strongest adventurers?!"

Affirming shouts.

Loki felt a little bad at playing her children this way, but she knew that with this, they will indeed become the strongest adventurers.

The keyword: adventurers.

Loki grinned. "Then you agree with me that we all need more training?!"

Some of the affirming shouts faltered, but most continued on with a blood-pumping shout of "YES!"

"Good," she said as she stepped away from the dais. "Then I present to you two of those very people that are _individually_ stronger than us. Meet Berserker and Illyasviel von Einzbern. Some of you know of them from the Illyasviel von Einzbern's School."

As the giant of a man stepped up to the raised dais at the front of the meeting hall, people began to pale.

Vincent shrieked.

Why wouldn't they? Most of them didn't even reach up to his chest nipple. Those muscles of his looked like they were stone hard and big enough to squash most of the adventurers in here with one hand.

But there were some squeals about how cute the girl, who sat on the giant's shoulder, was. She had pristine white hair

"These two will be heading your personal training, and I will pay them for their services. Be warned though," Loki said as she held her finger up in a silencing manner. "They do not accept mediocre effort."

* * *

Aiz Wallenstein, the Sword Princess of Loki Familia, was curious. She had the right to be.

To say that she was humble would be correct, but she also had extreme pride in her familia and her goddess.

As well as her own skills.

"I challenge you to a duel. I refuse to be taught by someone who cannot match my skill." She was humble, but not _that_ humble to feel irritated by this sudden introduction of someone "stronger" than her.

Everyone turned and looked at her. Many had disbelieving looks and many more were apprehensive.

A fight between that giant of a being and the Sword Princess? Forget about ruining a garden, the collateral damage was going to be in the millions of varisu!

And for some reason, her own goddess looked upon her with pity.

Berserker grunted.

"I accept," Illyasviel said as she jumped off the giant. "Where will this spar take place?"

"Outside of the castle," Loki responded quickly. "There aren't any training ground in the Twilight House that can take the strain of having two of you duke it out."

"Alright. Berserker, let's go outside." With that, the two strangers left the meeting hall.

Aiz Wallenstein moved to follow them but she was stopped by Loki. "Lady Loki...?" she muttered.

"Try not to die, Aiz."

Those words shook her to the core.

Her own goddess was fearing for her life. She could see it in her eyes. But why? Surely, a LvL 6 adventurer like herself could take care of a man, no matter how big!

"I'm serious. Even if I were to release my entire power against the laws of the pantheon and fight that man, I am not guaranteed a victory."

* * *

Everyone was now gathered outside the Twilight House, far away from its walls.

Loki feared for her Aiz. Why shouldn't she?

 _"When we came here," Archer spoke. "We realized something important. We were no longer 'Servants' summoned by the Holy Grail. We were truly alive. Something between the transference had shattered our bonds with our Masters and gave us our true lives."_

 _"And with it," Rider grinned. "Our limitations disappeared. For me, it won't be long before I headbutt with that nation-type familia of yours. Ares, was it?"_

 _"For some of us," Gilgamesh grinned. "It means that there is no one who can stop us."_

Loki gulped.

'Oh, Aiz, you air head, why did you challenge, Hercules of all people?!' she moaned mentally.

She knew of Hercules. No one who knew of the Greek pantheon wouldn't. Hercules, the son of Zeus, from the First Age of Gods. The man who went to the Underworld for a mere quest. A man who broke through cities. A man who killed the unkillable. The man who shattered the very earth if it meant achieving his goal.

Oh, she feared for her child. There was no way Aiz was getting out of this unharmed or without trauma.

Not too far away from her and the rest of the familia, Berserker and Aiz stood in front of each other with their weapon drawn.

Most of the familia had nearly fainted when they saw the stone-axe of Berserker's. It was a monstrous weapon that was taller than everyone. Its black teeth looked like vicious dragon teeth.

But no one could tear their eyes away.

"Alright then," Loki said as calmly as possible. "Here are the rules: 1) No killing, 2) No lasting damage, 3) No fatal wounds, and 4) Once I call the fight, it ends there."

Berserker grunted.

Aiz nodded.

"Then duelists... take your position."

Aiz jumped back with her sword drawn.

Berserker stood still.

"In 5... 4... 3..."

Aiz tensed.

"2..."

Berserker stood still.

"1..."

Aiz readied to jump.

"Sta-!"

There was a rush of wind. A gale so strong, Loki had to teleport herself away.

Aiz had no such luxury.

Berserker was in front of her before she could even blink with his stone axe raised above his head, already in a downward, vertical strike.

Aiz used everything she had to push herself. There was no thinking. There was no planning. Her instinct screamed. Her legs screamed at the sudden pressure she was forcing upon them, but there was no choice.

If she got hit by that...

Living?

More like crippled if not dead.

She merely moved herself five centimeters to the side as her legs kicked off and her body twisted to make herself small as possible, but that was enough. Her face could feel the cutting winds as the stone axe cut where she had stood mere quarter of a second ago.

The stone axe planted itself into the ground, and she used the stone axe's broad side as a platform to jump away.

She landed-.

-And she had to dodge again.

This time, she was not close enough. The jump had left her vulnerable. She hadn't even touched the ground with both of her legs before a kick to her stomach sent her tumbling away like a ragdoll across the plains. Her back struck the tree and broke through it with ease and she landed stomach first on the second tree.

She fell to the ground and held in the urge to throw up.

She couldn't understand. Her world was still spinning. Her balance was off.

What happened? How did he move that f-?!

Her instinct screamed again.

She looked up and saw the giant falling down.

Her pushed herself as fast and hard as she could.

A second later, the very place she had fallen came under assault from Berserker.

He landed.

And the ground cratered. Aiz jumped and jumped, pushed and kicked, and struggled and fought to simply _get away._

And she did.

Just as the crater reached her position, it stopped. However, it didn't stop her from looking upon the devastation a simple _landing_ had done to the land.

Berserker stood in the center of a crater knee deep and wider than the length of a normal house.

It had been four seconds since Loki stared the fight.

Her legs trembled. Her arms shook. Her breathes ragged.

'This isn't a human, this isn't a human,' she chanted mentally like a mantra.

This wasn't like the catepillar monster she fought at the 50th floor. That monster was all power.

This _being_ had power and finesse. Martial art that she didn't even recognize coupled with strength and speed that she knew she could not muster.

 _"The strongest familia, yes!" Loki agreed. "But I know of someone who is stronger than us individually. Someone that even I cannot touch."_

Her lips trembled. Why did she have to doubt Lady Loki?

Berserker turned towards her.

She jumped.

'There is no surviving this without my maximum output!'

He moved.

* * *

Loki Familia's adventurers watched in shocked awe.

"T-That's impossible!"Bete Loga shouted. He was an adventurer deemed the fastest of all, and yet, he could barely see how Berserker was moving. "Something that big has _no right_ to move that fast!"

Everyone had seen how in the first second, Aiz had been forced to dodge and then struck with a force of a mountain. They were shocked by how easily Aiz was pushed to her limit.

"He's going easy on her."

Everyone turned to Loki.

"No way," Bete muttered. "Please don't tell me that's true."

Loki's eyes narrowed.

It hurt her to see Aiz getting pounded upon, but Aiz had brought this upon herself. She wanted to protect her, but it was part of her agreement with the ... "Emiya Familia."

 _"Someone stupid will challenge either me or Berserker here to a fight. Promise us that you won't stop them."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"For a large group of people to know their superior, an absolute authority, a crushing and overwhelming power must be displayed."_

 _Loki raised an eyebrow. "And how will you do that?" she asked Einzbern._

 _Ilya smiled. "I am a magician who wields the complete Third True Magic."_

 _She kept telling herself that her children will be better off with this. That a small bruise here will save their lives in the labyrinth._

It didn't mean that just watching Aiz get kicked hard enough to kill most adventurer didn't make her heart stop and bleed.

"Lil Rafaga!"

Loki's eyes widened. Aiz had just used her best move.

Everyone watched as Aiz crossed a distance longer than a hundred meters in less than a second.

Only to see Berserker swing. He blurred

The entire move fell apart, and a shocked Aiz fell to the ground to her knees.

"One Hundred Arrow Strike," Ilyasviel commented from right next to Loki. "His most trusted Noble Phantasm. The very move that killed the unkillable, immortal Hydra of old. I'm surprised he decided to use it. Her attack must have been something."

Loki couldn't help the pride that she felt right there.

Aiz's ultimate move was a threat big enough to cause Hercules of all people to utilize his own ultimate move.

"Winner!" Loki shouted, much to her own dismay. Aiz couldn't get up from that. She could see even from here that Aiz was at her limit. Merely 30 seconds into the fight and it had taken Aiz everything to fight for that long. "Berserker of Emiya Familia!"

Berserker dismissed his Nine Lives, causing it to disappear in motes of blue light before gently picking up dead-tired Aiz bridal style. Then he made his way over to Loki Familia.

Adventurers began to back away even before he was within a dozen meter from them.

30 seconds.

Finn and few others including Bete were the ones to approach Berserker as he dropped Aiz to their waiting arms. They quickly rushed her to the infirmary in the Twilight House as the doctors and healers ran to her to do their work.

30 seconds.

Berserker scooped up Ilya onto his hands, but the girl stopped him from putting her on his shoulder. She turned around and looked upon Loki Familia.

"Does anyone else want to challenge? Berserker has already shown himself, so I wouldn't mind stretching out a bit..."

 _30 seconds._

Loki quickly shook her head, preventing anyone else.

"No," she said coldly.

Even though it was agreed upon, she could not help but be cold for that moment.

Ilya pouted. "Alright then. We'll visit every saturday for your training! Anyone who wants more can visit us at my school. It's right next to Hostess of Fertility." With that, Berserk set Ilya on his shoulder, and he jumped away.

"Jumped" away. More like he shot away like an arrow with enough wind strength to cause the trees at the edge of the open field to sway as if there was a hurriance.

Loki turned to the rest of the familia.

"I think you all now know what I mean."

With that, she ran over to where Aiz was.

 _It was cruel, but sometimes it takes a bit of cruelty for children to become adults._


	3. Chapter 3

The word of the duel between Aiz Wallenstein, the Sword Princess of Loki Familia, and "Berserker" of "Emiya Familia" circulated the city soon after that fight.

A warrior of grey skin, wielding a stone axe taller than most man.

A warrior so fast, no adventurer of Loki Familia saw him move.

A warrior so strong, he left a crater a meter deep that is still outside of Twilight House.

A warrior so powerful, he disabled Sword Princess's own ultimate attack with but a blurred swing of his arm.

A warrior so mighty, he won in 10 seconds.

Of course, some of the details were not true.

The crater was only .75 meters deep. The blur of his arm was not a single strike but a hundred. It was not 10 seconds but 30 seconds.

But those are details, and the point stands.

A warrior so strong, so powerful, and so fast that a LvL 6 adventurer, the strongest there is right now, fell with ease.

A warrior so mighty that a first-class adventurer stood no chance.

People began to speculate on this warrior's own level.

Normally, the scene that the Loki Familia had witnessed was something close to a LvL 3 or 4 beating up a LvL 1. A LvL 6 couldn't fight against LvL 5 like that as well.

This meant that the warrior in question was at least LvL 10.

But gods wondered as well.

They had never heard of a god named Emiya before. Was it a new god? Was it from a new pantheon? Could this god be the first god born in this era?

Everyone was curious, and curiosity led them to Illyasviel von Einzbern's School of Combat and Magic.

* * *

On the other hand, while Berserker and Ilya were "entertaining" Loki Familia, Shirou, Gilgamesh, and Archer entered the labyrinth.

"Prana is so rich in here," Archer muttered as he looked about.

The walls were brimming with mana.

"Reminds me of my home," Gilgamesh said casually as she walked ahead of them. "At least my home was not so bland."

"You mean you had gold laying around everywhere," Archer sarcastically muttered.

"As it is befitting of a queen," she replied easily.

Shirou sighed between the two of them.

"So how far do we intend to go?" he asked.

Archer pondered on that question for few moments before he nodded. "Let's go ten floors down. We can decide to go further than that once we get there."

"Sounds good to me," Shirou replied. "How about you Gilgamesh?"

"Anywhere you go, honey."

* * *

1st Floor: Too easy

2nd Floor: Too easy

3rd Floor: Too easy. Gilgamesh got mad at this point.

4th Floor: Too easy. Gilgamesh is still mad over how easy a labyrinth is.

5th Floor: Gilgamesh is contemplating whether or not she should just drill a hole down.

6th Floor: Gilgamesh successfully "tamed" four monsters made out of show after disappearing for a bit. They are now holding up the

7th Floor: Archer starts to get annoyed.

8th Floor: Archer also contemplates drilling a whole. Shirou manages to stop them both by pointing out how they needed to keep good relations with the people in the city; drilling holes has shown to be a bad way about going that throughout history.

9th Floor: Gilgamesh is very annoyed by goblins and kobolds. She unleashes a small barrage of her Noble Phantasms, which also brought down a wall and caved in a whole tunnel.

10th Floor: They decide to continue, but also rest as well.

11th Floor: Archer and Gilgamesh pull out weapons that dispel the mists for a short time.

12th Floor: Nothing happens. But still too easy.

13th Floor: Gilgamesh finds a hole in the ground. This cements her belief that holes can be dug. She pulls Shirou as she jumps down.

Unknown Floor: Archer is interested in the crystals that grow on the ground and ceilings. Harvests a handful and adds it to his "bigger-on-the-inside" backpack he bought from a wizard before the Emiya Familia's travel to this realm.

Unknown +1 Floor: Not too easy, but still easy.

Unknown +2 Floor: Starting to get hungry. Shirou attempts to harvest meat from some of the monsters. He was somewhat successful. He cooks, but found the meat to be too tough.

Unknown +3 Floor: Gilgamesh saw a dragon and went to slay it by herself.

Unknown +4 Floor: Another hole.

Unknown + Unknown+4 Floor: ...We're lost.

"I should've drilled a hole right from the beginning. Save us this hassle," Gilgamesh grumbled. She sat down on a chair she had pulled out from her treasury. Unlike the tree and moss-filled environment around them, the chair shined in the light of the crystals above, glittering and glistening.

Shirou, on the other hand, was more worried about food.

He knew that they had been in the labyrinth for the past 12 hours or so, which meant that it was now midnight.

It was soon time to eat, but they had no food with them. He knew that Gilgamesh had infinite wine in her vault, but not food.

He looked upon the monster horde below them.

The three of them stood on a cliff on the edge of this floor's walls. Below them was a stream of monsters of various sizes and shapes heading for them.

Shirou sighed again. He's been doing that a lot with Gilgamesh and Archer by his side.

"Trace On," he said.

"Trace On," Archer said.

"Mongrels."

Then as one, they unleashed hell.

* * *

What they didn't realize at the time was that there was a small group of adventurers watching them from the other side of the canyon.

They had been hiding for a day or so in this hellhole.

They made it this far on the fourth day. They set up a small camp to start collecting the materials requested by their employer, but instead, they found themselves in an ambush.

Half of their party had been killed right there and then.

They were also eaten.

Of the surviving half, a third made it out to seek help.

The rest were still there.

Help hadn't arrived yet, nor did they expect it to arrive soon. After all, it took them four days to come down here, why would any rescuers take less time to do so?

That's when they saw them.

Three adventurers standing tall and proud upon the cliff.

A literal horde of monsters crawling their way to them.

"Poor bastards are dead," one of them muttered. "They're so afraid, they're frozen."

There was a flash from all three of them.

Then the "Barrage" began.

The adventurers could not tell what they were seeing from so far away. But they did see the effects.

The three launched hundreds and thousands of magic attacks that exploded. Some of them simply pierced through monster skulls and bodies while others detonated with a force that shook the entire canyon.

They watched in awe as a horde numbering more than a thousand monsters were demolished in under a minute.

This would begin the rumor and myth of the three Magicians of Red, White, and Gold.

* * *

With these two rumors going around, gods slowly began to notice this "Emiya Familia."

Where else would they look?

An unmatched warrior appeared on the same day as the rumor began.

A school teaching arts lost in history appeared on the same day as the rumor began.

Thus, a meeting of the gods of Orario was called for.

Most of the gods attended with a select few who simply couldn't due to issues. Of those who attended, most had come because they had heard about the warrior who defeated the Sword Princess of Loki Familia under 10 seconds. Again, misinformation, but the gods didn't know that.

Hestia looked around.

The meeting had yet to start, so the gods were gathering in their cliques to discuss the ongoings of the Orario city. She noticed that some of the conversations had drifted away from the city and its rumors to what may lay outside the city. One of the reasoning for such an interest, as Hesita heard in passing, was that this new Familia had come from _outside_ the city.

Does that not give the outside world, which the gods and adventurers have dismissed as less advanced, more interest?

Hestia thought so, not that she had much of an opinion about the rest of the world.

Why would she care about anything else but her dear Bell? Why did the world matter when the best there was Bell?

... She knew that was selfish and arrogant, but is that not what gods are?

Selfish and arrogant.

Hestia, despite being called the most gentle of gods, had her own form of selfishness and arrogance.

After all, was she not the most humble and gentlest of the gods? Was she not the least selfish of the gods?

A form of arrogance and selfishness that was oxymoron.

"Hestia, how are you?"

She paused and looked to her left where flatboard stood.

"Loki," she replied.

She grinned. "You're in for a surprise today."

Hestia frowned. "...You know." There was no need for her to elaborate. Hestia and Loki had been "rivals" for quite some time (centuries in fact), so there was no need for them to explicit say all words. Most of the gods didn't have to. They only did so to entertain themselves and have the mortals understand them.

Loki's smile just became a grin.

Yeah, no need for words.

Loki turned around to the rest of the gods who had gathered for the meeting.

"Alright then, it's time for the meeting to start. Everyone take a seat."

The gods shuffled along as did Hestia. Once they were in their seats, the meeting began.

"The first issue of the meeting is the ..."

Hestia sweatdropped when it seemed like Loki was going to use this meeting to press along some of the other issues that the gods have been ignoring.

The Annual Meeting of the Gods was completely voluntary meeting for all of the gods. However, it had several weakness that made it more of a confederation of a meeting rather than a federal one; if there was a dispute between two gods and one does not show up to the meeting, the issue is indefinitely held back. Of course, some things like nicknames for adventurers were passed along anyway, but such was not the case for issues.

Loki, the goddess of deception, has pulled up the entire issues avoided by more than half of the gods present.

Since she never had issue with another god, Hestia promptly put her head down for a nap.

As she fell into her nap, Hestia couldn't help but think about Bell. How handsome and muscular he would become once he had some years on him. How she would take care of him and he would take care of her as lovers would.

It was a dream she wanted it to be true for so long.

At the same time, though, it was odd. Why did she lust after Bell so much? Was it simply because he was her only Familia member? ... No, it was not that.

It was-

"Hestia."

Her eyes snapped open and looked around.

She was a god to her right. He had woken her from her good dream. "What is it?"

"The crux is about to be discussed."

She blinked. "Oh, thanks Tura."

She looked to Loki who had her hands folded up in front of her face. "Now then," she spoke. "I think we're finally at what we wanted to know today."

Only groans and moans answered her.

Hestia blinked and looked around. Gods and goddesses alike were in a state of despair and mess. 'Just what did you exactly did you do while I was asleep, Loki?' she thought.

"Before I begin this, I want to know what you have been hearing about in the rumor mill," Loki began.

Again, Hestia had to give Loki credit for her title. She saw instantly that Loki was intending to use this moment to gather information about what the other familia and gods felt about the rumor without actually having to demand it for her own purposes. Using the meeting as ground for such things, Loki avoided being called out for abusing her influence to demand truthful opinion.

Hestia decided that she was going to speak up first. It wasn't like she and Loki didn't share a "rivalry."

"I heard that your familia got wrecked."

A vein popped up on Loki's forehead.

But her words encouraged some of the others to speak up.

"The rumor is that there was a warrior who defeated the Sword Princess in ten seconds and left a meter deep and ten meter wide crater."

"I heard that it was thirty seconds."

"I heard the Sword Princess was immediately hospitalized."

"The new school by Hostess of Fertility has good teacher."

"Yes, that school. I heard that the principal was a little girl."

"But I didn't see anyone like that."

"Oh oh oh, there was a really sexy lady there!"

"Apollo, shut the fuck up."

"Well, there was a handsome man, I'll tell you that."

"Enough," Loki said.

 _"It's okay if you reveal us. More they know, less they will be wary. Less wary they are, more free we will be."_

Everyone turned to her.

"It is true that ... my Aiz did get defeated in 30 seconds. That he did leave a crater," she admitted. "I didn't expect her to challenge _him_ of all people, but she did."

"...Who is _him_?" Freya, who had been silent this entire time, asked.

"...Hercules, the son of Zeus."

Utter silence.

Everyone stared at Loki in incomprehension.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Apollo roared as he shot up.

Why wouldn't he say that? After all, he had been there when all of the gods born of mortal parentage were killed along with Gaia.

Ares and he watched Hercules, their best buddy, wither away to black nothingness. Just as he had to watch his own son Asclepius die in the same painful and void filled end.

All of the Greek pantheon watched their children die.

How had Hercules lived?

Apollo was about to jump over the table to demand answers but his fellow deities quickly restrained him.

"YOU LIE, GODDESS OF DECEIT!"

Loki glared at Apollo.

"You are free to talk to him. After all, no one forbid anyone here from speaking with those of Emiya Familia."

That stopped them short again.

"A god has been born?" someone asked.

After all, no god had been born in this new Age of Gods. Only the old ones who survived the Cataclysm were here.

"No, that's what they just call themselves ... but I suppose one of them could be called a god," she replied. "A wielder of Third True Magic and a practitioner of the Second Magic."

It didn't take long before half of the Greek pantheons were rushing out of the meeting room, completely forgetting decorum.

Their children, their lovers, their friends. Who else was alive? Could they demand them to bring someone to them? They had to know.

The rest of the gods from other pantheons just watched in unveiled surprise.

It was not surprising, however. Of all pantheons, the Greeks were the closest to their human companion. Some gods have died to live and die with their partners. Some had gone through lengths to bring their partners up to godhood.

No other pantheon held such degrees of connection with their humans.

Hestia, on the other hand, remained with few others.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because they didn't wish to hide, and it was sooner or later that they were going to be found out," Loki replied. "They wanted to reveal themselves on their own, not be forced to do so."

"Pride?"

"No."

It was something to think about.

* * *

Intelligence-Doubt-Causing Trauma Count: 44/48

Illyasviel on Einzbern, the magician of Heaven's Feel, the Principal of the school named after herself, and the "generator" of the Emiya Familia, frowned at the number.

44 people out of 48 people.

It was a highly disturbing number.

The number said a few thing about the place they were in.

What they heard was that this city was the most developed city in all of the world.

And yet, they didn't have basica understanding of the world around them outside few magic trivia and variety of information about their labyrinth.

Hell, they didn't even know who brought in the food into the city! Well, most of them didn't.

It was like the middle ages here!

It was horrible!

It was terrible!

She wanted to cry a little. It would be a hell of a long time before internet was reintroduced to the world. Her 9gags! Her 4chan's!

"I want to do something about, but I don't know what to do," she pouted.

Then her eyes widened.

She bonked herself.

"I'm already doing it! I have a school!" she yelled before rushing out of the charts room. "Sakura!"

Sakura looked up from her place in the reception desk. "What is it, Ilya?"

"I want to recruit all children in the city into my school!"

"... That's ambitious, Ilya."

Ilya crossed her arms. "Then I'll make this city into a city of academies!"

"And you have drifted away from reality..."


	4. Chapter 4

"And you have drifted away from reality..."

 _CRASH!_

Both of the girls turned towards the front entrance of their school building, and saw a bunch of weird people that had somehow crashed through the Reinforced glass.

They must have been in hurry or got kicked towards their direction.

In either case, they broke the glass.

Reinforced glass, mind you.

"...Hello?"

"Where's Hercules?!"

Ilya's eyes immediately narrowed. Was this a god who had issues with her Berserker? She couldn't think of a god aside from Hades who _might_ have a teenie tiny bone to pick with him, but Hades was supposed to be gloomy and emo (from what little memories she saw from Berserker's memories. She couldn't think of another god who would-.

"Where's my nephew?!" the golden haired man shouted.

Ilya froze for a moment and then blinked.

Nephew?

"...Apollo?"

The golden haired man's attention shifted to Ilya.

"Where's my nephew? Where are you keeping hi-?" he demanded as he got up from the floor and marched on Ilya.

It was obvious to everyone who knew of him there that Apollo was in a state of shock.

Ilya and Sakura did not know that.

When Apollo was within a meter's distance from Ilya, something zoomed out from the sides and smacked into Apollo. Apollo took the hit, unable to dodge, and flew out of the glassless doorway.

"...Berserker?"

For some reason though, Berserker didn't have his usual serious blank stare or enraged, berserk snarl. Instead, he looked annoyed, which was a first.

Then he turned around and patted Ilya down.

"...Berserker?" Ilya asked again. This time, she was getting scared. Berserker never acted this ... proactively or non-violently. It made her confused with shock.

When Berserker saw that there was no harm on Ilya, he _let out a sigh of relief_ and walked out of the school.

Then there was a shout of joy quickly followed by someone getting wrecked on the pavement.

Berserker returned to the school, walking over the tangled mess of other greek gods, who seemed rather scared. Then he glared at them all before he returned to the inner areas of the school.

"That's a first," Ilya noted.

"I saw," Sakura commented.

* * *

"Are you alright, love?"

Shirou looked to her.

Gilgamesh, when she was first summoned, was very ... upset. After all, she had been summoned by someone who she would normally categorize as a mongrel on a normal day.

This was before she tasted his hand cooked meals. She immediately declared him to be hers and hers only. She fell in love with the food and the cook. However, just like the king she was, she saw errors and flaws within her "lover" as easily as an artist saw flaw in their work.

Her lover, simply put, was an Abnormal. His entire being had been wrapped around a singular concept of being a savior.

Changing him was going to be hard, and she knew that. Nevertheless, she demanded it of herself and of him to change because that is how she saw their future; there wouldn't be one if he continued down this path.

To that end, the first thing she did was to slip him drugs.

Not exactly condoned by the rest of the Emiya Alliance (as it was her lover that half of the Sixth Holy Grail War's participants had joined the alliance for), her methods worked whereas words and seduction would not.

Instead of whispering into his ears of what she wanted him to be, she simply ... opened him.

Her lover deserved no less.

The drugs worked their wonders on him by simply opening him to suggestions, but not being so strong nor too open to sway his entire will to the said suggestions.

A true "persuasion" drug, if one could call it that.

And she was the only one in possession of such a wonderful product deep within the depths of Gates of Babylon.

And it worked.

While he retained most of his "savior" personality and attitude, he was no longer suicidal nor zealous about it.

"Nothing," Shirou smiled to her. "I just find our new ... pet to be ... umm... noticeable."

She raised an eyebrow and gave the family's new pet a glance.

The pet in question was a creature she had found in the fifth floor. She tamed one then and on the way back up, tamed few more.

As a result of her actions, the Emiya Familia would now have five "War Shadows" under their command.

Namely for housekeeping and guarding. A role befitting of the mongrels of magic and nature these creatures were.

As for the moment though, they were the manpower for her lectica.

So picture this.

The trio, Archer, Shirou, and herself, just came out of the labyrinth with a horde of loot. Archer and Shirou, who were carrying the loot, were by her side and she was on her letica.

Being carried by four War Shadows.

The guards had freaked out and ran away a long time ago, and many adventurers were wary as they scooted the civilians out of the way as the trio made their way back to Ilya's school.

Perhaps that was what Shirou was concerned about.

People staring.

But such was duty of the kings and queens. To be stared upon. To be awed at.

To be shocked at.

Her Shirou had a lot more training to go before he could be truly called her Consort King, but at least he wasn't extremely squeamish about it.

Archer didn't care about the scene they were causing, unlike Shirou.

He was more interested in the objects they had looted from the monsters of the labyrinth.

Specifically speaking, he was very interested in some of the ores and materials. He had already used [Structural Analysis] on them, which made his understanding of the materials very easy.

He was busy thinking about what kind of weapons he could hammer out of these.

Gilgamesh could tell that such were the man's thoughts.

Ever since he had been force released from Alaya's service, he had become more and more obsessed with blacksmithing and forging. Whenever he got an idea, he would retreat to his Reality Marble to hammer away.

Such an odd man.

"Halt!"

She frowned. Now what?

She rose up from her laying on her letica and stared at the people who stopped her.

They looked like the general thugs, so she just laid back down. "Shirou, please get rid of the rabble."

"Hey, you bitch listening to me?!"

Gilgamesh froze for a moment before perking up. "The dogs bark too loudly for my taste," she said as she shot two lances from her Gate.

The lances fired off with a sonic boom.

 _CRUNCH_

And landed just beneath the two thugs crotches.

"Scram."

And they ran.

Shirou sighed. "You're attracting too much attention," he chided.

"And you're starting to sound like an assassin, love," she replied. "You are my consort king, Shirou. That means you hold your head up high and do what pleases you."

"Within reason."

"Of course."

'Within reason' was one of the few things Shirou had managed to get a promise out of her.

Within reason meant that she couldn't hold a party with golden cups of antiquity because she wanted to.

Within reason meant that she couldn't just bombard the Japanese government back when they were in their home dimension.

Within reason was the chain Shirou had demanded and one she reluctantly gave ... because she loved him.

Most of the Emiya Alliance didn't believe her -and still don't- when she declared that she loved Shirou.

Heretics and heathens, the lot of them.

But she really, really did, even to the point of chaining her own actions.

Of course, her own chain was "within limits." If someone hurt Shirou? All bets are off.

Now, what she was going to do anyway?

* * *

"We're home," Archer announced as he, Shirou, Gilgamesh, and four War Shadows entered the School.

Sakura and Ilya, who had been busy chitchatting, stared at the four creatures.

Sakura was the first to smile. "I like them."

Archer shivered.


	5. Chapter 5

A month had passed since their arrival to this world and a month minus one day since they set this magic school up.

They started out with three students: Bell Cranel, Vincent, and Armand Solaris. Those three students returned home that day with pale faces and the feeling of smallness while Emiya Familia was able to get a loose grasp of how advance this world was.

Or rather, how advance they were not.

While their social advancements were comparable to modern 21st century, their economical and military technologies and understandings were poor. Actually, it would be lenient to say that it was late medieval.

Naturally, Ilya was the most unhappy of the bunch. She was, after all, the internet active of the group. No matter how much she wanted to advance this world, there were limits to what she could do.

For one, while she was at a prime position to spread education, she was not in position to effectively put any of her own into effect; that honor laid solely with the gods.

Oh, she and the others could leave the city to find somewhere else to start their(her) technological revolution, but it was unlikely.

Not only did this city hold the closest technological advancements (which was sad), it was also the closest thing to an economical powerhouse.

One cannot start a revolution _away_ from one such powerhouse.

So Ilya pouted for hours and hours everyday, bemoaning the loss of her internet while enjoying Shirou's food.

* * *

Aiz Wallenstein stood before the school.

Illyasviel von Einzber's School of Combat and Magic.

She shivered a little as she remembered the strength, speed, and ferocity of the blows she took on mere month ago. She had to be healed for an entire week for that spar.

She felt so stupid, and even her Goddess Loki was upset with her.

So after another two weeks of solo adventuring in the labyrinth, she found herself here.

She wondered if that "Berserker" was going to be here, teaching.

She shivered.

What kind of a teacher would that man be?

Curiosity got the better of her, and she entered.

She swung the tinted glass doors open ... and found herself surprised.

She had imagined dirty magician's shop stacked to the brim with scrolls, grimoires, and books or somewhat scrubby lobby with unpolished cobblestone walling. Instead, she found herself in a lobby with unique looking chairs, couches, and sofas as well as white marbles for walls and floors. There was pleasing yet bright orange light emanating from smooth, oval stones embedded in the walls at an even interval.

At the head of the lobby was a dark, smooth, light reflecting, and soft looking reception desk that hid three quarters of the receptionist hidden.

Speaking of the receptionist, she looked up as soon as Aiz had taken the first two steps into the lobby.

"Hello." She glanced down. "Your name must be Ainz Wallenstein, correct?"

Was there something that to tell the receptionist her name?

"I'm here to see how good your school of combat is," she said as she walked up to the receptionist.

The receptionist smiled. "Of course. We had many visits as of late."

Aiz nodded.

"Would a tour suffice?"

She nodded again.

The receptionist stood up. "Alright then. My name is Matou Sakura, and I'll be the guide of the day."

* * *

Aiz had a one hour tour of the school building, which was surprisingly large inside for its outside appearance. When asked about this, Sakura giggled a little and gave non-committal response.

As for the school itself, Aiz was impressed. While she had never been to school herself as education was provided to all of Loki Familia, she knew when something was high classed. In a class she was visiting, which had surprising amount of her familia members attending, she found herself surprised to learn how to cast simple magic without having to learn one from a grimoire.

Fancy that.

That was obviously a magician class, though. She came to see the combat class.

Sakura led her away and ... downstairs?

Weren't they on the ground floor?

She soon found herself entering a vast room filled with training weapons and weights on racks.

"There are three more rooms like it below this one, but only two are being used at the moment," Sakura explained as they continued to walk down the stairs. The staircase itself was built into the side of the room, which had to be at least three stories high, with rails and glass to prevent anyone from falling. It was also of comfortable width; four men could fit through it easily side by side.

On the ground of this first "Gym" as her guide called it, there were forty or so men and a white haired man -just like Bell Cranel- at the head of the gym.

"There is no justice in battle!" the white haired man shouted. "There is only blood, death, the dead, and the victor. You are in this class because you lack this understanding, and by the time you leave today or fulfill the hours you've paid for, I will make sure that you will understand that sentence down in your bones!"

"Sounds brutal," Aiz commented.

Sakura smiled weakly. "He's had a bad past."

"What kind?"

"...Let's say mercenary work."

It does sound like something that would come from a mercenary.

The two came upon a leveled staircase where iron railings and platform came off from its side and circled around the entire gym at mid-level. Aiz took the path of the iron railings and platform, each of her step making a quiet shingles like that of iron mail.

As she took a corner to observe, the instructor had the students running.

"What is he doing?"

"Endurance training. One of his core philosophy of combat is 'no endurance, no victory' with some applying clauses," Sakura replied.

"I see."

She could see for such a statement was her own philosophy. How many times did she lament her weakness in her younger years? Her inability to last more than a few floors?

She was much different now.

"He is also one of the few instructors who can fight one on one with Berserker and come out victorious."

Aiz snapped to her guide before snapping right back.

They had _two_ such monsters here?!

"But then again, all of our melee combat type fighters are on same level so..."

She stared at her guide for a minute before she spoke. "You're not joking."

Sakura's eyes, body posture, and steady movements were all in normal parameters, or rather they did not move into the threshold where liars touch. Or Sakura was an experienced liar.

But something told Aiz that Sakura was not lying. It was in the eyes. Sakura was reminiscing in the past. Why would she do that unless she was reliving the past where ...

Where all of them fought each other.

Aiz felt a shiver run up her spine.

Such a battle could not be called a 'battle' but war. The finest and the strongest of the world coming together, each representing their heritage, life, and so on.

Or perhaps she was thinking too deep into this.

In the end though, Aiz knew that Sakura was not lying about the combat levels of the Emiya Familia melee fighters.

Still, as impressive as their fighters were, Aiz wanted to know their teaching skills and abilities.

She saw that this man had the basics down, but she doubted she was going to see anymore than that until these students were done with their laps. If endurance was indeed the reason for the laps, then she doubted that she'll see him teach something soon.

"Perhaps you would like to see our other combat instructor?"

Aiz nodded. That was for the best.

* * *

Sakura felt a little bit awkward.

Aiz Wallenstein ... did not talk a lot. Was this how she acted normally?

"Then we'll continue down the stairs."

She led Aiz downward again, and this time, they came to the second gym, which was below the first. It was the same size as the gym above it, but it lacked a lot of the equipment that the first gym held. There were racks and training weapons, yes, but it lacked the weights of various sizes and the other more esoteric training equipment.

But what she saw was much more valuable than what she observed upstairs.

The instructor of this gym, a red haired and very, _very_ muscular man, stood on the long side of the gym while the students, who were split into two groups, crashed into each other like two opposing armies.

* * *

Aiz's experienced eyes immediately recognized tactic.

The instructor stood to the side, but she saw the instructions on the board next to him. They had been learning different tactics before she had entered this gym.

The teams were obvious; they wore either blue or red wool shirts.

They were equal in number and seemed to be of similar strength, but it was clear to Aiz that the blue had a better tactician.

It was a young man. She couldn't tell if he was from any familia, but he controlled the blue team with such authority that he couldn't have been anything but a high ranking adventurer.

She watched as the young man had the blue team flank red team. Red team tried to counteract, but the wall of blue team slowly closed in on them. Soon, they were defeated.

"Winner, blue!" the red haired instructor roared.

The red team groaned.

"Alright, you know the drill. Start running, red."

Aiz winced.

Harsh.

* * *

"So you won't be joining us?"

Aiz shook her head. "I was hoping to see high level combat instructor, but I see that due to the majority of the students being low level, I will not be able to get a high level instructor for myself only." There was also a lot she didn't say. Like how she was impressed with the school. Like how she was terrified of the prospect of there being more than two fighters in Emiya Familia capable of crushing the entirety of Loki Familia with ease. Like how her Goddess Loki's statement about her familia being the strongest was false.

And so on.

Sakura just smiled to her.

"Then I wish you good luck on finding the teacher you're looking for."

Aiz nodded and left the building.

Still, she had the Saturday training to look forward to.

* * *

That Saturday...

"THEY'RE COMING!"

Loki Familia froze as one and quickly scrambled.

There was only one "they" that Loki Familia had come to call.

Berserker and Illyasviel von Einzbern, their weekend trainers.

While most of the LvL1 and LvL2 adventurers were wary and outright scared of the duo, LvL 3, LvL4, and LvL5 adventurers were somewhat ecstatic.

Because with the duo trainers, they were able to improve themselves without risking their life. The duo trainers pushed them to their limit and fixed their weaknesses.

The higher ups of the Loki Familia, including their goddess, knew just how exactly a golden opportunity this was for the Familia.

Even if they ached for entire days after.


	6. Chapter 6

Bell stared and sighed at the homework before him.

As much as he loved to learn from the Einzberns, the amount of homework assigned to him and the others was ... tremendous.

Hestia too glared at the pile of books and paper, but he didn't know why she would be glaring at them.

"What are you working on, Bell?" she asked.

"I'm working on Basic Magical Theories," he said as he scratched the back of his head. "But it's confusing and I don't get why the book differentiates the elements so much."

The goddess raised an eyebrow. "There are only four elements, right?"

It was Bell's turn to question. "What do you mean?" he asked her. "The book says that there are five basic elements along with numerous more compound elements."

"'Compound elements'?" Hestia repeated in incredulity.

"Yeah. Like 'combustion' and 'sword.'"

"Let me see that," she said as she extended her hand and opened it up.

Bell dutifully passed on the book he was working with to Hestia, who began to read the passage he was on.

After a minute, she laid the book on his laps and muttered, "good luck," and walked away.

Bell wanted to cry. Even his goddess abandoned him to the depths of homework, but the homework was due in a few days. He had no time to cry; it would be better spent working on the homework and sleeping to ensure his survival in tomorrow's training.

With that, he steeled himself -as Professor Emiya often says- and got to work on using what sliver of magic he could produce without a skill or spell to find out what his element was. That and the essay he would have to write after finding his element, which was basically a psycho-analysis of himself as best he saw himself.

It was not going to be easy. At all.

* * *

It was a dreaded word.

Scratch that. It was a _hated_ word.

It came out of nowhere and struck mercilessly. Those unprepared drowned in self-depreciation and those who did prepare merely let out a sigh of relief.

No one was ever out of the woods in the Einzbern School.

 _It_ was merely one of the many obstacles that the students had to jump over, lest they find themselves at the mercy of the teachers.

"A quiz?" Bell squeaked while others groaned and moaned around him.

The entire student body of the Illyasviel von Einzbern's School of Magic and Combat had just turned in their "Personal Element Recognition" essay, something that took a good two nights for Bell.

Now, they were to be quizzed upon it as soon as class started.

"Indeed," Professor Archer answered. "It is gruelsome, I know, but it is necessary to ensure that you are all fully aware of what you have learned on your own. Take one and pass it around," he said as he handed the student at the front, Armand Solaris, a small stack of paper.

When Bell got his quizz, he stared at it before his eyes widened.

 **1\. What are the Great Five Elements?**

It was free response.

'Crap, crap, crap, crap!'

He looked over how many there were.

20 questions.

... This was fucking test, not a quizz.

"Mr. Cranel, please stop gawking at the quizz and get to writing. All of you are on 20 minute time limit."

1 minute per question, his brain immediately supplied, and he just spent that minute.

'Okay, calm down, calm down,' Bell thought to himself as he picked up his pencil. 'The Great Five Elements? Umm... Water, air, fire, earth... and aether?'

No time to double check. He just scribbled it on, and moved on.

 **2\. A caster's magic spell is limited by what?**

'Mana? Mana reserve? Output? Od?' Bell just randomly threw words he learned into open air mentally until it clicked. 'Prana output and prana density.' He scribbled that down.

 **3\. What is an Average One?**

... Crap.

* * *

"And turn it face down," Professor Archer said.

Bell froze.

He was at #14, and there was no way he was going to get everything correct.

'Dear goddess, give me strength for what is to come,' he prayed as Professor Archer came around and collected the quizzes.

Once he was up at the front of the classroom, the professor spoke again. "Now, it's time for notes. Today, I'll be introducing you to what you should have learned the basics of: elements," he said as he got out a marker and wrote the word "Elements" on the whiteboard behind him. "Now, I will read all of your essays, but I want everyone to come out and say what their elemental affinity is one by one. Alright?"

"Yes, sir," the class chorused.

"Armand, start it off, please."

"Yes, sir. My element is Fire and Earth."

"I'm Water!"

"Fire."

"Wind."

"Wind."

"Earth."

"Fire."

"Fire."

"Water and Ice."

"Fire."

It was Bell's turn. "L-Lightning."

Everyone turned to him.

"That's a surprise," Professor Archer said. "It's been a while since I met a Lightning Affinity."

"I-Is it rare?" Bell asked quickly, as nervous and curious he was under the stares and the professor's remark.

"Somewhere between rare and uncommon," he replied. "But that is besides today's point. Do you guys see how most of you have one elemental affinity that is among the Great Five Elements? That is the case for most magi," he spoke to the class. "Now, Emiya and I are different; both of us have the elemental affinity of 'Sword.' I believe us two are the only ones to have it as far as we are aware."

The class awed and chattered quietly about the rarity of such element.

"Now, can anyone give me a brief explanation as to why the Great Five Elements are the most common elements?"

* * *

After lunch, Bell and the rest of the class found themselves in the underground gym.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, no one got a score above 70%, which meant ... training.

"Be grateful, young'uns!" the red haired instructor, "Rider," laughed. "Where I come from, you would be sent home with instruction to not come back." Then he laughed again. Once it subsided, he looked over the entire class. "Hmm, I suppose we'll settle on dodgeball today."

Everyone tensed and whimpered at the same time.

'Dodgeball' here did not hold the same connotation nor fun the childish game held to everyone else.

Rider went to the storage area and pulled out a pair of rubber balls.

Mind you, these weren't inflated rubber balls. They were hard, _solid_ rubber balls.

"You guys have five minutes to survive! If you get knocked out here, expect your homework to double!"

Did Bell mention that Trainer Rider's version of dodgeball also didn't stop unless you were unconscious?

... Probably not.

So hell began.

* * *

Bell returned home with a bruised ego and a bruised leg.

Trainer Rider had a tendency to go after students' legs. He reasoned that it lengthened the amount of time each student would be able to stay in the game.

After all, one did not faint nor was rendered unconscious by a solid rubber ball striking their kneecap.

Bell had been on the receiving end of the flying rubber ball five times.

"You look ... swell."

Bell looked up. "Goddess," he greeted his familia deity. "Yeah, I suppose. At least, it wasn't the face this time."

There was a pause. "Someone's bullying you?!" Hestia shrieked in anger.

He quickly pulled his hands up in denying and placating manner. "No, no, no!" he denied vehemontly. "I failed the pop quiz today along with everyone else, so we had to train with Rider!"

Hestia stopped her angry march out of the door before she nodded. She brought him to his room and began to treat his legs. There wasn't much to treat, but it was the thought that counted and made Bell's heart swell in happiness.

After all, even if he was the only familia member of hers, goddess Hestia personally took care of him. How could he not be happy?

Perhaps this was why his goddess was the goddess of hearth and home?

* * *

While Hestia had only one member to fuss over, Loki had a dozen.

Literally.

After the weekly sessions with the entire familia, the tiny and giant duo had inspired some members of her familia to go beyond what was acceptable to desire the exceptional.

One LvL 4., three LvL. 3's, and eight LvL 2's had signed up for daily classes at the Illyasviel von Einzbern's School of Combat and Magic.

Everyday, they came back home to the Twilight House either sweaty and famished, or dead tired after long hours behind desks and mounds of paper and knowledge.

Today, they came with bruises.

"This was because you _failed_ a mere _pop quiz_?" Loki strained her voice to make her displeasure over the Einzbern methodology clear. Even if the familia name was Emiya Familia, the school's name was Einzbern, so she was going to call it Einzbern.

A string of nervous laughter greeted her question.

"W-Well, we could've studied more," Vincent replied.

Having been the first of the students who joined the school from Loki's Familia, he had been forced(?) to become the representative of sort among the students from Loki's Familia. Despite being only LvL 2 with no previous leadership experience, he took to the job well. He got help for those who needed and gathered the students for study groups so that they may better understand the material they were given.

"What was it about anyway?" Loki asked after giving up on ... whatever she had been trying to do before this.

She was meant to be a trickster, not the mother hen worrying over little things like bruises, even if she didn't like what she saw.

"Elements!" one of the students hissed. "I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!"

Vincent gave the student a pitying look. Loki later learned that the student in question had scored the lowest and had received more homework as a result.

"We went over elements today. Specifically, we went over the popularity of the Great Five Elements, development of compound elements, and practical elemental spell casting."

The last part got the attention of the entire familia tending to or just gathered around the twelve students of Einzbern's.

"You guys got to learn spells?!" Lefiya asked excitedly.

As a Second-class Adventurer of LvL 3 and a mage, Lefiya had been very interested in the Illyasviel von Einzbern School of Combat and Magic. However, she was uncomfortable with the idea of leaving the dungeon raid party that she was part of. She was also under tutelage of Riveria Ljos Alf, so she decided that it would be better to remain.

But the idea of learning spells not from grimoires was making her mouth water.

Or at least, that's what Loki suspected from the way she was jumping up and down in anticipation for answers.

She glanced at her top executive mage as well.

Riveria Ljos Alf, one of the three Top Executives of the Loki's Familia. One of the strongest mages in Orario, a First-class Adventurer, and all rounder beautiful elf.

Let Loki reiterate that Riveria was also a mage, a class of people who generally had thirst for knowledge and power.

Despite not being part of the conversation nor the group surrounding their "injured" comrades, Riveria was by the back, leaning on the wall and listening.

Loki slipped out of the group as Vincent began to answer what he could, and she met up with Riveria in the back.

"So?"

As much as Loki was interested in the actual students, she was also interested in what the other familia members thought about the school.

After all, Riveria herself had been shown down by the tiny of the tiny giant duo in a magical contest.

 _Illyasivel von Einzbern proudly puffed her chest. "I know of no one who could beat me on the quantity of prana!" she declared proudly on her third Saturday visit._

 _Riveria raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You look too young to boast something like that."_

 _In Orario, it was common knowledge that the mana pool grew with your age and maturity. While humans possessed the best quality of magic, they also possessed the least pool of mana. It was actually because of this that human mages researched and developed over and over again until they achieved what could be called the top tier magic spells for their personal use, something elven or beastkin mages were not often seen with._

 _Again, Riveria herself was a First-class Adventurer, which meant that she had several top-tier spells under her belt, and a woman nearing her mid forties, she had significant quantities of mana._

 _"Is that a challenge?" the white haired girl pouted at her._

 _Riveria chuckled. "Why not?"_

Perhaps she should have learned from Ainz's example.

 _They were out in the courtyard where a small crowd had gathered to see the contest between them. By no means was this a duel, but it was still a contest nonetheless. There was no way Riveria would hurt a child._

 _"How would we show our magic?" Illyasviel asked her._

 _Riveria thought about it for a while. Normally, a mage would get their mana pool size checked out by calculations. But that would take too long because it required long observations and may be prone to error. So right here, only visible or physical evidence can be used. They could use a measuring tool like a glass orb, which was actually magic-conductor. The brighter the orb, the more mana it held._

 _"How about this? We measure how many mana orbs we can fill up to the brim."_

 _"Ehh? That's it? No spell casting or anything like that?"_

 _Riveria chuckled. This girl was too cute._

 _"We don't want to hurt the audience by accident, do we?"_

 _The girl pouted. "Fine."_

Riveria conceded defeat after Illyasivel filled up over a hundred glass orbs when she herself barely filled ten.

* * *

Elsewhere, Berserker was enjoying himself.

It had been a while since he had enjoyed dining with his uncles and aunts.

Yes, uncles and aunts.

The Greek Pantheon.

While his voice was still strained by his previous experience under the "Mad Enhancement," he was still able to talk and enjoy himself.

Especially with Apollo.

This Apollo ... was different. The Apollo he remembered a womanizer -and the sun god still was- but there was a change about him that Berserker couldn't completely place.

"So let me get this straight. That little girl is now your daughter?" he asked. "I thought you were done with marriage."

He grunted.

"Not real daughter?"

Grunt.

"Huh. Adopted. Fancy that."

Grunt.

* * *

"Where should I go to sell these?"

Taking the bag from the stranger, Filvis Challia rummaged through its contents.

Most of it seemed like dungeon loot from the Upper Floors. She quickly glanced at the stranger again before handing the bag again. "Most of it seems like it's from the Upper and Middle Floor, and most of it seems to deal with either ores or potion ingredients. I would suggest Goibinu Familia, Hephasteus Familia, and the Dian Cecht Familia. The former two deals with ores and blacksmithing while the latter deals with potions and their related products."

The man nodded. "Thank you."

She nodded and went about her way, but as she did so, she began to think about the man who she had just given directions to.

He was tall and extremely tanned. His white hair and grey eyes reminded her of Old Dian Cacht himself, but those two features were on a very young face. Extremely packed in the abs, and his stance reminded her of First-class melee adventurers.

His features were that of the rumored "Magician of White," one of the three mages who had wiped out a thousand monsters in the Middle Floors without as so much as a moment for incantation or preparation that all mages needed for such widespread attack.

She turned around to ask him for confirmation about the rumor, only to see that he was long gone.

With a shrug, she turned back around and left to meet her god at their headquarter.

Filvis was sure that she would meet him again; all adventurers run into each other again and again, after all.

* * *

Normally, he would just use [Structural Analysis] to find his way, but he didn't want to recklessly use magic where people might not be happy about such usage. So he didn't, and found the shop the old fashion way.

When Archer made his way to the Dien Cecht Familia's shop after getting two more directions as to where it is, he found himself at the center of attention among many people in the shop.

Was his get-up that noticeable?

One of them suddenly rushed up to him and took his hand in theirs.

'Wha-?'

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Confused by the thankful stranger, he only got to blink before the man talked again.

"I-I'm a member of Dien Cecht's Familia. I was down at the 33rd floor when you came and rescued us! I never got to thank you, sir! Others will be happy to know that you're here!"

"Others?" Again, Archer didn't get as much as a moment before several others were swarming him.

Before any of them could so much as say a thing though, -'was this the norm of this shop?' Archer thought- there was a loud thump that silenced everyone.

"This is disgraceful!"

Everyone sans Archer quickly went back to their position behind the counters as an old man walked in to the center of the room where Archer was. He walked with a limp and a cane but he made his way quickly over to Archer without so much as looking to be in any hurry. The old man looked over him once and then twice before he nodded his head.

"I suppose I should thank you, Magician of White. You saved some of my members from the monsters. I'll take your business as top priority today as thanks. Come, tell me what you are here for," he said.

Archer blinked before sighing. "I just came to sell these-?" he said as he extended the bag he had been holding. But when it reached just a bit over half of the distance between himself and the old man, the latter snatched it out of his hand and looked through it.

"Ah! The Spring Grass of Reil. We've been looking for those for some time. I see some monster bones... could use those..." he muttered as he pushed aside the solid items. Then he looked surprised. "Is that a gem?"

"Oh, yes. There was this pesky dragon that was bothering me too much when all I wanted to know was what each of these ingredients did."

The old man pulled out the gem, a brilliantly blue gem, and inspected it.

"... This is 33rd floor's boss monster gem. You must have had dedicated group to help."

Archer cocked his head, noticing the murmurs around him. He reinforced his ears.

"The Red Dragon of the 33rd Floor? His familia must be really strong!"

"I wonder whose familia he's from..."

He merely raised an eyebrow. "I took him down from afar by myself."

A pause.

The old man chuckled before he extended his hand. "Dian Cecht, at your service, youngster."

Archer blinked.

Dian Cecht. The god of medicine from the ancient Irish mythology. A very jealous god, but a respectful god nonetheless for it was he who saved Ireland from many primordial dangers.

Archer extended his hand in turn and grasped the god's hand. "Archer, former Counter Guardian."

Dian Cecht raised an eyebrow. "You're one of _those_?" he asked with an undertone of professional curiosity. "Well, you're the first I've seen since ... well, the First Age of the Gods."

Again, murmurs in the background.

"Ah, but it is not something we should be talking about in the presence of these younglings. Come. I'll hear your story and fix you a good price for these ingredients too."

However, it was too late. The word that Archer was a "former Counter Guardian" spread like wildfire, adding to the latest of the rumors.

Unlike most rumors, however, this one was taken with utmost seriousness by all gods and goddesses regardless of pantheon or personality.

It was also because of this that Emiya Familia encountered their first trouble.


	7. Chapter 7

Archer and Dian Cecht enjoyed each other's company, surprisingly so. Both of them were cynical, but knew to respect the other. They were masters of their field, but savant in others. Like emotions and whatnot.

Then they got into talking about cooking and medicine...

While it would be a while, this talk between the two about cooking and medicine would be the revolutionary revival of medicinal cooking from the Old World.

Also, Dian Cecht was eager exchange news with Archer regarding the current happenings of Orario.

Archer set the tea down with a smile. "Excellent tea, Chief Dian."

The Irish of Ireland lived in tribes and clans well into the medieval ages. In fact, this social structure was one that descended down to their descendants thousands of years later to the very day of the Apocalypse. It was natural for those of Irish roots to like being called by the titles of their clan. It was a form of respect known only to those who grew up within it, and foreigners hardly picked up such traits.

Dian smirked. "Of course. I made it."

Let it not be known that one of the most powerful Irish gods was known for his humility, because he definitely wasn't.

"What is your opinion regarding this city, Counter Guardian?"

Archer looked up. "Please. Call me Emiya."

Dian Cecht stared at the man for a while before shaking his head. "Sorry. Your presence screams of Alaya too much for me. I've also lost a fair share of followers and children to your kind."

"... Do you seek revenge?"

"No. I'm not that kind of god. I know for a fact that more than half of my children challenged your kin to prove themselves. Stupidity isn't something I encourage."

Archer bowed his head once. "Thank you for not holding a grudge upon us."

"You realize this doesn't mean I'm friendly with you, right?"

He nodded again.

"Good. I just wanted to see if you were decent. You may go."

* * *

Now, the fact that a Counter Guardian, former or not, was a member of the Emiya Familia was a gossip that exploded all over the city.

Most of the familia members did not know. The few who did were scared shitless.

The gods? They ... were experiencing a range of emotions. Some were apathetic like Dian Cecht. Some were curious.

Others were ...

Well, mad.

Starking, frothing, jumping, roaring mad.

The angriest of them was Kali.

In the Second Age, her followers had suffered at the hands of the Counter Guardians the worst throughout all eras. She held a really big grudge. In her rage, she trashed her bedroom.

"Why, why, why?!" she roared. She grabbed the nearest furniture and tossed it to the other side of the room.

Despite her short stature, Kali was a god of destruction. Whenever destruction was involved, everything about her improved to ludicrous proportions, including strength.

"WHY?!"

Unlike Dian, who was apathetic, Kali was anything but. Even if she sometimes harmed her familia and children, she cared for them like a mother. This extended to those who were already dead, and at the hands of the Counter Guardians, too many of her children, her followers, and their families perished.

To her, a Counter Guardian was nothing but a target to kill, soul and all, so that there is nothing left of Alaya's pet attack dog.

Something grabbed her.

"My lady..."

She whirled around, her fist raised up. But she froze when she saw who it was.

Or rather, what had happened to her.

Bache Caliph was one of the two captains of her familia. She was also the one who could be considered the "minder" for the entire familia due to her generally calm disposition and Level 6 status. In front of her goddess, though, she was still a child.

A child who was bleeding from her forehead, scratches that littered her body, and a swollen eye.

Kali froze as she took this in and looked around.

Her bedroom was trashed. Furnitures were broken. Her children were cowering behind her bedroom doors.

And Bache had walked into this maelstrom to calm her down, even if it meant getting hurt.

Kali grit her teeth and lowered her guard before she walked over to Bache. Kneeling down, she used her own life essence to heal the woman of her injuries.

"You okay?" she asked bluntly.

The warrior amazoness smiled. "Yes, my lady. I am now."

Kali sighed. "Let's leave the mess to the weaker shit. I need a bath."

* * *

Dionysus pondered regarding this Archer's status as former Counter Guardian. Being the god of wine and entertainment that he was, he rarely came to contact with any Counter Guardian. In fact, the only time he came in contact with one was when a Counter Guardian wanted to have a drink at his club in Athens (in the Second Age, of course) before he went to kill Ares's latest youngling -who had decided to sink Greece using his granduncle's magic.

The Counter Guardian in question had been reasonable, smooth, and kind.

For him, they were just another people, and he left it at that.

Now that they were here in Orario, though, things might change. With the extremely interconnected roles that gods had in human lives, he and his familia were sure to be affected by what was going to happen soon, whatever it may be.

Would it be prudent of him to declare himself neutral in all of this? There were sure to be others who were going to declare neutrality.

* * *

Freya was one such god. Unlike her "husband" Odin, anyone who left her and her advice were no longer considered her children, and as such, even if she did feel some grief with their death when Counter Guardians reaped them, she decided to remain neutral.

However, she was a bit worried about the Emiya Familia. After a taste of their supreme cuisine, she was hesitant to not help them; the loss of those cuisine would be most devastating to this world.

They were on par with the rare delicacies of the food gods, as rare as they were as well.

Perhaps if the Emiya Familia show even a small sign of winning over any of its competitors, she might throw her lot in with them.

Maybe grabbing a promise for daily dinner from them as well...

She wanted to drool, but that was not her image. Instead she blushed a little.

* * *

Within the Emiya Familia, the crowd was uneasy. They had heard the rumors floating around, and knew that Counter Guardians weren't exactly the friendliest neighbors of gods and goddesses. Considering that their Archer was once a Counter Guardian, they also knew that the Counter Guardian in the rumor was their Archer.

"How did he get so sloppy and let that information leak?!" Ilya growled in frustration. "Once he gets back, I'm going to make him my dress up doll for punishment!"

Shirou sweatdropped mentally as he pushed in front of his older (younger?) sister a plate of french fries. The girl immediately dismissed the situation at hand in favor of the food, leaving the rest of the familia members to talk without her raging rant and revenge plans.

Of course, this was also her way of removing herself from the spotlight of this meeting without being awkward; just because she didn't talk didn't mean that she wasn't listening.

"So, how big of a deal do you think this will be?" Shirou asked everyone present.

Archer was still out there, probably having gone back into the labyrinth. He was diligent like that.

Shirou would have done so as well had it not been for the others' insistence that at least one of the two Emiya(EMIYA) remain to cook for them.

"Probably nothing we can't handle," Iskander shrugged after he swallowed one of the sandwiches provided in the meeting. "We are the strongest 'familia' there is, and everyone knows it."

Shirou frowned. "But they can always take other actions to make our lives uncomfortable, can they not?"

"And how would they go about doing that?" Rin asked as she popped a cherry into her mouth. "So far as I've concluded, the familias here are regulated by the Guild itself, which sets up rules for exactly things of this nature; a familia earning the ire of others. The worst they can do is embargo the items we bring up from the labyrinth by not buying them from the Guild, but the Guild itself maintains anonymity of the items sold."

"And ...?" Rider asked. The idea that there was a higher authority regulating someone like him, a king, was not a happy thought.

"But if a familia finds that the grudge or issue is big enough, they can call for a War Game."

Rider liked the sound of that. "How is it operated?"

"Depends on how the challenger wants it. There's this weird rule about it, though: a familia cannot declare a War Game on another familia without significant asset tied to it. From what I was told, this was so that the familias in Orario won't be declaring War Game on each other for shits and giggles; a familia can lose their base of operations or even their members if they lose a War Game." Rin scoffed. "But I doubt anyone is stronger than our familia."

"You speak too casually of our strength," Gilgamesh grunted majestically. "We could be the kings of this world; we have merely chosen not too."

"Because I forbid it," Shirou replied immediately. "I don't want you going out on conquests and hurting innocents. Got it?"

Gilgamesh pouted.

* * *

Not too surprisingly, the class the day after the spread of the rumor saw a steep decline.

Rin frowned as she looked upon her students. Particularly, the seats that didn't have her students. She saw to her surprise though that most of the Loki Familia, Freya Familia, and civilians remained to learn.

"I'm surprised half of you are here," she commented nonchalantly. "Not after the rumor went about."

There was silence.

Then someone raised their hand.

It was a little girl. She was one of the civilian girls who was paying her way into this school with her precious mana. "T-Teacher Rin, can you tell us what a C-Counter Guardian is?"

"...Why do you want to know about it?" she asked the student.

"Because all of the gods and goddesses seemed uncomfortable with the word."

Rin sighed. So the dreaded question did pop up. Well, she was to blame as well; she did mention the rumor, so it was inevitable that the question was going to come up faster than expected.

"... To understand what a Counter Guardian is, you must first understand the situation of the era before this one, the Era of Humans," Rin said as she wrote the words 'Era of Humanity' on the board at the head of the small classroom. "This era came after the First Age of the Gods; the era you live in is the Second Age of the Gods." She then wrote down the words left and right of the 'Age of Man.'

"When the First Ages of God ended, a new entity rose to power to replace the gods and the world. This being's name was Alaya, the collective unconsciousness of all humans. This Alaya is the patron of the Counter Guardians and the enemy of Gaia, the very earth upon which you walk upon."

There was a pause as Rin let that sink in.

Then some of the older students began to pale, finally understanding _some_ of the implied issues at hand. The younger ones had a harder time.

"T-Then humanity became the enemy of gods?" someone asked quietly.

Rin frowned. "No. Not exactly. In fact, humans can't be," she said as she wrote the words 'gods,' 'phantasmal beasts,' and 'magic.'

"You see, gods and goddesses came into being in the First Age of the Gods as a result of human belief in the deities in question, so in eseesnce, we humans created our own gods. What little that has been confirmed before my time here is that this formation of deities are caused by our own belief, and even curiosity. Because of this, humans couldn't be the enemies of gods and goddesses because the deities themselves are dependent on us for their power, and you dpened on their blessing."

This seemed to ease some of their worries.

"But our connection to the well spring of creation and the gods declined with the end of the First Age of Gods.

"Once the First Age of the Gods came to an end, these three-" she pointed to the four words she wrote. "-began a steady decline. During this decline, Alaya came to being with two purpose in its existence: survival and advancement of humanity. Gaia didn't take that very well, oh no.

"Humans would, some two thousand years after the start of the decline, became a ravaging force the destroyed the very world they lived in. They poisoned the seas, filled the air with toxic fumes, and waged war upon each other and the planet they lived on. All in the name of advancement.

"Gaia foresaw this and it was not going to take it laying down. In fact, she went and got help."

"From the gods, right?" someone interrupted.

"Sadly, no," Rin replied. "She got help from the moon."

Everyone turned quizzical.

The moon? How could it help? Rin could see that question written on their face. Some of her mentally faster students, however, were thinking. She let them think for a few more moments before she started again.

"Just as our world has the personification of Gaia, so too does the moon.

"Gaia, or the collective will of our planet, called to the moon for help, and brought upon itself an Ultimate One, the collective will of the moon. The exact details of this event are unknown except that it gave rise to a single race of phantasmal beings.

"Dead Apostles.

"These people, if you can call them that, were creatures of the moon. They had a thirst for human blood and in the early days of mankind, they were the greatest enemy of humanity.

"Alaya's response to them was the Counter Guardian."

There was silence.

"Dead Apostles were the unfortunate humans and other creatures given a new life by the blood of the Type Moon, the Ultimate One of the Moon, and Counter Guardians were those unfortunate enough to have risen to heroic status by borrowing power of the collective humanity.

"But a Counter Guardian's job doesn't simply end to keep humanity alive. No. Counter Guardians are also the war hounds of Alaya; they kill and destroy anything that gets in the way of human advancement, including gods, elementals, divine spirits, and yes... even the world itself if such an act is called for.

"It is for this reason that Counter Guardians are feared: they are the Beasts of Alaya, the ruthless will of Humanity."

* * *

Bell Cranel was nervous.

It was a core part of himself that sought to become a hero. In fact, that was why he even had a skill named Realis Phrase, or so he believed.

But now... he was uneasy. Why wouldn't he be? He just learned about one side of how terrible "heroism" can be.

War with the world? Borrowed powers? Enslaved for eternity?

Yeah, Bell was not into that.

He broached this with his goddess as well, and she was extremely unhappy that he had even learnt of the existence of Counter Guardians.

When he questioned his own desire to become a hero was put into context along side the Counter Guardians, the goddess reassured him that such a tragic thing will not happen to him.

He was blessed to have such a goddess.

* * *

Loki was once again struck with a headache.

This time, it came in the form of rumors and knowledge.

Counter Guardians.

She had lost her share of children to them, especially as the decline of the First Age of the Gods began. None of them had died to this new Counter Guardian that was apparently the white haired man of the Emiya Familia nor did she feel the blood of her kin on him. For that, she cared little about his former status as Counter Guardian (and how did that work anyway? She had assumed that once a Counter Guardian, one was always a Counter Guardian. Perhaps it had to do with the loss of Alaya...).

* * *

There was someone extremely not happy, though.

Ares, the god of Ares Familia, the only nation-type familia in existence, was not happy at all.

Never mind the fact that he was a hot-tempered god, he had his fair share of troubles with Counter Guardians. As one of the last active Greek pantheon in the Age of Humanity, he had fought the Counter Guardians who sought to kill his children time and time again. And he had a bone to pick with any and all Counter Guardians.

His most favorite children, Deimos and Phobos, were slain by Counter Guardians in front of him, after all.

So he rung the bells of war.

Ares Familia was going to war.


End file.
